Last season, it took 39 games for Oklahoma softball to lose its first game of the season. In 2023, it took just 10 days and nine games. Behind a four-run third inning, Baylor held off a late Sooner comeback attempt to shock the national champions and No. 1 team in a 4-3 win on Sunday in Waco, Texas.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third, Baylor knotted the score at one with an RBI single from Amber Toven. That brought up cleanup hitter Shaylon Govan to the plate with two runners on. On a 1-1 count, she blasted a fastball over the fence to give the Bears a three-run lead.
HYPE US UP SHAY 😮💨#SicEm | @shaylongovan pic.twitter.com/N0xbhz4l6K
— Baylor Softball (@BaylorSoftball) February 19, 2023
It was all the cushion Baylor needed as the pitching duo of Darlana Orme and Aliyah Binford held the Sooners' bats just quiet enough. Orme completed four innings, the only run allowed going down as unearned. Binford finished the job with three innings in relief, stopping a sixth-inning rally to maintain the lead and her save opportunity.
The win is Baylor's first against Oklahoma since 2017, a streak of 16 consecutive losses to the Sooners and just the 11th win all-time against OU (11-48). Though it won't count toward either team's conference record, this one-off game as part of the Getterman Classic certainly increases the intrigue when they meet again for a three-game series in Waco in late April.
